2010–11
Section Council Chairs
Access to Justice
Jayne B. Tyrrell
Tyrrell, a Watertown resident, is the executive director of the
Massachusetts Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Program (IOLTA),
where she works to provide free legal services for the poor. A
recipient of the MBA President's Award in 2009, Tyrrell was a key
member of the national litigation strategy team that fought for a
decade in a Supreme Court case holding IOLTA programs to be
constitutional. The former president of the National Association of
IOLTA programs, Tyrrell has served on the Supreme Judicial Court
Working Group on Limited Assistance Representation, the Boston Bar
Association Task Force on Expanding the Right to Counsel and the
Self Represented Litigation Network.
Access to Justice
Charles E. Vander Linden
Vander Linden is a principal at Ciota, Starr & Vander Linden
LLP in Fitchburg, where he represents a number of clients in
litigation involving real estate, employment, business matters,
insurance disputes and discrimination. A member of the Attorney's
Committee of the Massachusetts Community Associations Institute, he
is also a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Worcester
Youth Guidance Center. A Groton resident, Vander Linden has been a
member of the Groton Zoning Board of Appeals for 15 years and is
currently a trustee of the Groton Conservation Trust.
Business Law
Francis C. Morrissey
Morrissey, a Milton resident, is a partner with Morrissey,
Wilson & Zafiropoulos LLP in Braintree, where he concentrates
his practice in the areas of commercial litigation, insolvency and
distressed acquisitions and divestitures. He also teaches
bankruptcy, creditors' rights and secured transactions at Boston
University School of Law and New England Law/Boston. In addition,
Morrissey presently serves as a hearing committee member for the
Board of Bar Overseers, an arbitrator for the MBA's Legal Fee
Arbitration Board and Co-Chair of the American Bankruptcy
Institute's Annual Northeast Bankruptcy Conference. In March, he
was appointed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to serve
a five-year-term on the Clients' Security Fund, which awards
members of the public who have sustained a financial loss caused by
the dishonest conduct of an attorney or fiduciary.
Business Law
Brian E. Glennon, II
Glennon, a Duxbury resident, is corporate counsel at
Cumberland Gulf Group in Framingham, where he handles a wide
variety of matters in a law department which serves two
multi-billion-dollar companies within the retail and energy
sectors. Prior to Cumberland Gulf Group, he practiced at a Boston
firm and served as a law clerk at the Massachusetts Land Court.
Since joining the MBA, Glennon has been active in the Business Law
Section Council. He is a 1997 graduate of Suffolk University Law
School and served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
Civil Litigation
Christopher A. Kenney
Kenney, a Sudbury resident, is a founding member and managing
shareholder of Kenney & Sams PC, where he focuses on trial and
appellate advocacy. He is also New England regional trial counsel
for several major corporations. President of the Massachusetts
Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, Kenney has also served as
past president of the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association. He
served as a Special Assistant Attorney General and as an adjunct
faculty member at Boston University School of Law. In addition,
Kenney frequently writes and lectures for business groups, trade
associations and the legal community. He was awarded the highest
rating by the Martindale Hubbell National Law Directory, ranked one
of the Top 100 Lawyers in Massachusetts by Boston
magazine, named a "Superlawyer" and included in the 2009, 2010 and
2011 editions of The Best Lawyers in America.
Civil Litigation
Raymond P. Ausrotas
Ausrotas, a Cambridge resident, is a partner at Todd & Weld
LLP in Boston, where he has a diverse commercial and general
litigation practice which includes helping clients with a broad
variety of commercial and employment disputes (including in the
non-compete and trade secret arenas), defending against criminal
and regulatory investigations, seeking relief in alternative
dispute resolution forums, and prosecuting personal injury and
medical-malpractice claims. He has served as an adjunct faculty
member at New England School of Law (now New England Law), and has
written columns on current legal issues for The Cambridge
Chronicle. Prior to attending George Washington University Law
School, he worked as an assistant cross country coach at Brown
University, where he received his undergraduate degree, and on
congressional and Massachusetts legislative committees. Ausrotas is
also a member of the Boston Bar Association and was named by
Boston magazine as a Superlawyer "Rising Star" in 2005,
2007 and 2008.
Criminal Justice
Michael L. Fabbri
Fabbri, an Ashland resident, is an assistant district attorney
with Middlesex County District Attorney's Office where he currently
serves as the office's Framingham regional supervisor. He has also
worked at the Attorney General's Office in Boston as an assistant
attorney general and served as deputy chief of the Medicaid Fraud
Control Unit. Prior to that, Fabbri practiced law at Bikofsky,
Walker & Tuttle in Framingham. Fabbri is a 1983 graduate of
Northeastern University School of Law, a 1980 graduate of
Framingham State College and a veteran of the U.S. Air Force.
Criminal Justice
Radha Natarajan
Natarajan, a Somerville resident, is a public defender with the
Committee for Public Counsel Services in Cambridge, where she
represents individuals in the Somerville, Malden and Woburn
district courts as well as Middlesex Superior Court. As a trial
attorney, he has been involved in the training of defense attorneys
in the areas of cross-racial eyewitness identifications and cases
charging a failure to register as a sex offender. Natarajan is a
2003 graduate of New York University School of Law, where she was
the managing editor of the New York University Law Review.
Natarajan's article, "Racialized Memory and Reliability: Due
Process Applied to Cross-Racial Eyewitness Identifications" has
been citied in numerous articles and by the U.S. District Court of
the Eastern District of New York.
Family Law
Marc E. Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald, a Milton resident, is a partner in the Boston law
firm Casner & Edwards, LLP. He practices in the firm's Family
Law and Probate Group, concentrating in complex divorce cases, all
aspects of domestic relations and probate litigation. A graduate of
Boston College, Fitzgerald obtained his law degree from New England
School of Law, where he was president of the Honors Moot Court from
2001 to 2002. He has appeared as a panelist at seminars and
conferences sponsored by the MBA and Massachusetts Continuing Legal
Education. Fitzgerald is recognized as a Rising Star by
Boston magazine.
Family Law
Michael I. Flores
Flores, an Orleans resident, is the principal at the Law
Offices of Michael I. Flores in Orleans where he devotes his
practice to representing clients in a broad array of domestic
relations matters, including litigation and alternative dispute
resolution. A Board of Bar Overseers Hearing Committee member, he
is also vice president and family law committee chairman of the
Barnstable County Bar Association. Flores has spoken and written
for several bar associations and penned a reference guide on the
Probate and Family Court for mental health professionals. In
addition, he frequently lectures on business ethics and leadership
for the Curry College MBA Program.
General Practice, Solo & Small-Firm
Peter T. Elikann
Elikann, a resident of Boston's Beacon Hill, is an author,
criminal defense attorney and legal commentator on Court TV and
other networks. He is a former television news reporter and author
of Superpredators: The Demonization of Our Children by the
Law (Perseus, 1999) and The Tough On Crime Myth
(Plenum, 1996). A longtime MBA member, Elikann is a former chair of
the Criminal Justice Section Council. He has been recognized in
Boston magazine as a Massachusetts and New England Super
Lawyer.
General Practice, Solo & Small-Firm
John B. DiSciullo
DiSciullo, a Newton resident, is a partner at Mitchell &
DeSimone in Boston, where he practices civil litigation in areas
including plaintiff's personal injury, insurance defense, insurance
coverage, business disputes and construction defects. He has been
recognized in Boston magazine as a Massachusetts Rising
Star and Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since 2005.
DiSciullo is also an avid cycling enthusiast who maintains an
online resource for bicycle riders needing more information about
bicycling laws in Boston.
Health Law
Stephen M. Fiore
Fiore, a Belmont resident, is an attorney at Foster &
Eldridge LLP in Cambridge, where he specializes in the defense of
medical providers and provides risk management advice to health
care professionals. He previously practiced as an in-house
litigation counsel, where he defended claims involving liability
and employment law. Fiore contributes to the legal and health
communities as an author and frequent lecturer on medical-legal
issues and health care law for continuing medical education and
risk-management programs. He has been named a Massachusetts "Super
Lawyer" by Boston magazine.
Immigration Law
Marisa A. DeFranco
DeFranco is the owner of DeFranco Law Group, a boutique firm in
Salem, where she specializes in business-based immigration, family
immigration and the representation of children in the foster care
system. She has been a member of the American Immigration Lawyers
Association since 1998 and has served as a director on the National
Board of Governors and as president of the New England Chapter.
DeFranco is a state commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on
the Status of Women, serving as treasurer from 2009-2010.
Immigration Law
Gerald C. Rovner
Rovner, a Needham resident, is a solo practitioner in Boston,
where he exclusively practices immigration law. He has served
as Chair of the MBA's Fee Arbitration Board and is a Life Member of
the Massachusetts Bar Foundation. Rovner is one of the senior
members of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Refugees and
Immigrants. In addition, he has been a prominent member of the
American Immigration Lawyers Association, having served as the
Chair of the New England Chapter, a member of its Board of
Governors, and Chair of the Vermont Service Center Liaison
Committee. Awarded the Bronze Star for his service in the U.S. Army
in Vietnam, Rovner has served as a member of the Massachusetts
Water Resources Authority Advisory Board and is active in several
community activities in Needham. He graduated from Rutgers
University School of Law.
Individual Rights & Responsibilities
Laurence M. Johnson
Johnson, a Randolph resident, is a shareholder at Davis, Malm
& D'Agostine PC in Boston, where he practices in the area of
trials and appeals of complex business litigation. He has been
named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer every year since 2004. Johnson
is a past-president, trustee, and an Oliver Wendell Holmes life
Fellow of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the philanthropic arm
of the MBA. He is also a member of both the Massachusetts IOLTA
Committee and Supreme Judicial Court Law Clerks' Society and, for
over 30 years, a director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Under Law. Johnson is a member of the Boston Bar Association and
American Bar Association as well as a life member of the American
Law Institute and an elected Fellow of the American College of
Trial Lawyers.
Individual Rights & Responsibilities
Frank A. Smith III
Smith, a Milton resident and principal at Frank A. Smith
III & Associates PC in Boston, focuses his practice in the
areas of family law, personal injury, business law, and civil
rights. A frequent lecturer and writer for the Massachusetts legal
community, he has served as a co-chair for a panel discussing legal
issues pertaining to the use of Guantanamo Bay and difficulties
surrounding detainees at the base. Smith also is a Fellow of the
Massachusetts Bar Foundation.
Judicial Administration
Hon. Gordon L. Doerfer (ret.)
Doerfer, a Needham resident, is a mediator and arbitrator on the
panel of neutrals at JAMS, The Resolution Experts in Boston, where
he specializes in the arbitration and mediation of business
disputes. He is also on the adjunct faculty of Suffolk University
Law School, where he teaches trial practice and previously served
as adjunct faculty at Boston College Law School. Doerfer retired
from the bench after 25 years of service, including four years on
the Boston Municipal Court, fifteen years on the Superior Court and
six years as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Appeals
Court. He is a recipient of a Judicial Excellence Award from the
Massachusetts Judges Conference.
Judicial Administration
John J. Morrissey
Morrissey, a Hingham resident, is a founding partner of the law
firm of Morrissey, Wilson & Zafiropoulos LLP in Braintree, a
boutique law firm practicing in the areas of litigation, bankruptcy
& creditors' rights and real estate. He practices in the area
of litigation with a principle focus on personal injury and
workers' compensation claims. Morrissey also serves in the MBA
House of Delegates and as an arbitrator on the MBA Fee Arbitration
Board. He is a member of the Massachusetts Academy of Trial
Attorneys' Board of Governors and Chairman of the Workers'
Compensation Committee. Between 1999 and 2005 Morrissey served as a
member of the Board of Bar Overseers Hearing Committee for Plymouth
and Norfolk counties. He is a Life Fellow and a member of the Grant
Advisory Committee of the Massachusetts Bar Foundation, the
philanthropic partner of the MBA. Since 2003, Morrissey has served
as a director of Central Bancorp, a publically traded company, and
as a director and chairman of the Real Estate Committee of Central
Co-Operative Bank since 2004.
Juvenile & Child Welfare
Peter A. Hahn
Hahn, a Cambridge resident, is the founder of OneLaw in Newton,
which represents clients comprehensively in a range of personal
legal services. Hahn advocates for children and families in
several practice areas, including juvenile delinquency, Department
of Children and Families investigations and appeals, student
discipline and special education matters, adoption, and criminal
cases for young adults and people with disabilities. He frequently
speaks to the legal community about education law and the juvenile
justice system and previously served on both the MBA's Criminal
Justice Section Council and the Juvenile Justice Practice Group.
Hahn is a former middle and high school teacher and a former
judicial law clerk in the Juvenile Court.
Juvenile & Child Welfare
Martha Rush O’Mara
Rush O'Mara, a Melrose resident, practices at the Law Office of
Martha Rush O'Mara in the area of children's law. An attorney for
nearly 20 years, she is a Fellow with the Massachusetts Bar
Foundation, the MBA's philanthropic partner. She is also chair of
the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation's Board of Directors
in addition to serving her second term on the Massachusetts
Interest on Lawyers Trust Account Committee. Rush O'Mara is also an
avid volunteer in the Massachusetts legal community, conducting
extensive pro bono work and mentoring recent law school graduates.
She sits on the MBA's Executive Management Board, Governance
Committee and Membership Committee.
Labor & Employment
Thomas J. Gallitano
Gallitano is a partner at Conn Kavanaugh Rosenthal Peisch &
Ford LLP in Boston, where he focuses on employment law,
professional liability and business litigation. He serves as
co-chair of the firm's Employment Law Practice Group. From 2004 to
2006, Gallitano was recognized by Boston magazine as a
Massachusetts Super Lawyer. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 he was
recognized as a Top 100 Super Lawyer in both Massachusetts and New
England in the areas of business litigation and employment. In
2007, Gallitano was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick as chair of the
Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) Advisory
Board. He is a past hearing officer for the Massachusetts Board of
Bar Overseers. Gallitano lives in Brookline, where he is a member
of Town Meeting.
Labor & Employment
Dahlia C. Rudavsky
Rudavsky is a partner in the Boston firm of Messing, Rudavsky
& Weliky PC, where she concentrates her practice on the
representation of individual employees and unions, with an emphasis
on discrimination cases. She was named one of Massachusetts
Lawyers Weekly's "Lawyers of the Year" for 1999, in 2002 was
recognized by Boston magazine in its "Best of Boston" list
of employment law attorneys, and each year since 2004 she has been
named a Massachusetts Super Lawyer. In 2005 and again this year she
was recognized as one of the Top 50 Massachusetts Female Super
Lawyers identified by Boston magazine. Rudavsky is the past
chair of the Massachusetts Employment Lawyers Association's
MCAD/EEOC Committee, and is a former member of the steering
committee of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. She has
served as lecturer in law at Harvard Law School, where she taught
labor law. Rudavsky lives in Newton.
Law Practice Management
Andrea Goldman
Goldman is the principal at the Law Office of Andrea Goldman in
Newton, where she focuses on helping parties resolve disputes in
construction and business matters through litigation, arbitration
and mediation. She also represents construction companies and other
corporate clients in drafting contracts and business planning. A
Newton resident, Goldman is a member of the American Bar
Association where she is the co-chair of the Construction Law
Committee of the General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division.
She is also a member of the Women's Bar Association, where she runs
a mentoring circle. In addition, Goldman is an arbitrator and a
mediator, serving on a number of alternative dispute resolution
panels.
Law Practice Management
Phil A. Taylor
Taylor, a Groveland resident, is principal of Taylor Law Office
in Stoneham representing individuals and business clients in
various disputes of criminal and civil areas, including commercial,
consumer and family law. Prior to entering private practice, he
served as an associate attorney in several law firms and as a
private investigator. Taylor is a graduate of the New England
School of Law, where he earned the school's Service Award, was
honored as a New England Scholar and served on the executive board
of the New England Journal of Criminal and Civil
Confinement. He serves on his local Zoning Board of Appeals
and is a member of the Knights of Columbus.
Probate Law
Janice C. Nigro
Nigro is a partner at Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas LLP in
Wakefield, where she practices in the areas of probate
administration and litigation, trust litigation, estate planning
and elder law. She is a member of the Essex County Bar Association,
First District Eastern Middlesex Bar Association, Newburyport Bar
Association, Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys, National
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Massachusetts National
Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. A Hamilton resident, Nigro is board
member of The Angel Fund, a non-profit organization with goals of
raising research funds and awareness for ALS, and a past board
member of Christ Church Nursery School.
Probate Law
Michael R. Christy
Christy, a Worcester resident, is an associate at Mirick,
O'Connell, DeMallie and Lougee LLP in Worcester, where he focuses
on complex business and fiduciary litigation matters, including
internal corporate disputes, breach-of-contract and probate and
trust litigation. Christy has contributed articles to the
Deposition Handbook and the Boston Bar
Journal.
Property Law
Laurel H. Siegel
Siegel has practiced commercial and residential real estate law
for 15 years. Prior to starting her solo practice in 2008, she was
a principal at Siegel, Wagner & Swartz LLC in Boston, where she
was the managing member of the real estate department. Previously,
Siegel practiced at Kotin, Crabtree & Strong LLC. She was
one of the real estate "Rising Stars" in Law & Politics
Magazine's Super Lawyers listings in 2006 and 2007. Siegel is
a member of Real Estate Bar Association and serves on its
legislative committee. The Medford resident is on the Board of
Directors of the Medford Square Market, a member of the Medford
Chamber of Commerce and involved with the Medford Green Line
Neighborhood Alliance.
Property Law
Elizabeth J. Barton
Barton, a resident of Natick, is a title insurance underwriter
with CATIC in its Eastern Massachusetts office. Before joining
CATIC, she conducted title examinations and managed other examiners
for Attorneys Title Services in Wellesley and at the Suffolk
District Registry of Deeds. Following Barton's work as an
underwriter for Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company, she
practiced law with a small commercial firm in Andover. She lectures
for the MBA, Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education and the Real
Estate Bar Association. Barton is also a member of the Middlesex
County Bar Association, the Women's Bar Association, REBA and the
Merrimac Valley Bar Association.
Public Law
Barbara J. Saint André
Saint André is a principal of Petrini & Associates PC in
Framingham, where she concentrates on municipal and land use law
and litigation. Previously, she served as a principal at Kopelman
and Paige PC in Boston in the area of municipal law; practiced
general law at Murphy, Lamere and Murphy in Braintree and served
one year as a Massachusetts Superior Court law clerk. Saint André
is a member of the Real Estate Bar Association and the City
Solicitors and Town Counsel Association.
Public Law
Kathleen Colleary
Colleary is chief of the Municipal Finance Law Bureau at the
Massachusetts Department of Revenue, where her bureau issues
written opinions and guidelines advising local officials about new
legislation and the implementation of municipal tax and finance
laws. A Watertown resident, she often speaks to the legal community
and local officials about property tax and municipal finance
issues.
Taxation Law
Lisa M. Rico
Rico is a partner in the Estate Planning Group at Gilmore, Rees
& Carlson PC, focusing on estate planning, probate and tax law.
She also represents nonprofit organizations - such as charitable
trusts - and provides tax advice to partnerships and other
pass-through entities. Rico often lectures and has authored
numerous materials on estate planning issues, including family
limited partnerships, estate liquidity and the generation skipping
transfer tax. The Ashland resident has previously served on several
prominent American Bar Association committees and task forces
dedicated to estate planning and administration, income and
transfer tax planning and business planning. She is currently
serving as the Co-Chair of the Estate Planning and Administration
for Business Owners, Farmers and Ranchers Committee of the ABA's
Real Property Trust and Estate Law Section.
Taxation Law
Richard M. Stone
Stone is a tax attorney in Boston, where he focuses on state,
federal and international tax matters, including planning, audits,
appeals and litigation. In addition to his private practice, the
Boston resident is of counsel to the McLane law Firm in Woburn.
Stone has also served as general counsel of two major multinational
U.S. companies including Western Development Corporation (later
known as The Mills Corporation) and APCOA, Inc. Stone was selected
to be a member of the ABA Advisory Panel, which informs the ABA's
priorities and decisions. He contributes to the legal community by
lecturing and writing; his most recent appearance was as a featured
speaker at the MBA's 2010 Annual Conference. Stone is a graduate of
the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Young Lawyers Division
Kyle R. Guelcher
Guelcher is a sole practitioner in Springfield, where he also
lives, and concentrates his practice in a variety of legal areas
including civil litigation, business law, entertainment law,
intellectual property law and consumer law. Serving as senior
editor of the MBA's Young Lawyers eJournal, he is also a
member of the MBA's Membership Committee and chaired the Law School
Committee -- giving lectures at local law schools on how to
transition from student to practicing lawyer. In addition, Guelcher
is an MBA delegate to the American Bar Association House of
Delegates. A graduate of North Carolina Wesleyan College and the
Western New England College School of Law, he is the recipient of
the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award.